San Jose cop — and city council hopeful — put on leave after criminal fraud investigation

SAN JOSE — A police sergeant vying for the District 8 city council seat is on leave from the San Jose Police Department after being criminally charged with grand theft, in a case built on allegations from an ongoing mortgage fraud lawsuit against him, according to authorities and sources familiar with the investigation.

The police department confirmed Tuesday that Sgt. Tam Truong, who joined SJPD in 2008, was placed on administrative leave for a “personnel matter,” but declined to comment further.

But multiple sources familiar with the matter told this news organization that the leave was related to a criminal investigation into mortgage fraud allegations outlined in a lawsuit filed against him two years ago. A criminal complaint was submitted to the Santa Clara County Superior Court on Sept. 5.

Truong did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

In the September 2022 lawsuit, Orange Coast Title Company of Northern California and Real Advantage Title Insurance Company accused Truong of fraud for using documents from a past bankruptcy to convince an escrow agent that he owned a San Jose property outright when he still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his mortgage lender.

Truong then sold his home and pocketed nearly $540,000 that should have gone to the lender, and later used the proceeds to purchase another property, the civil suit alleges. Truong would not have been able to sell his home unless he had removed all the liens on the property.

The criminal investigation largely retraced the claims made in the lawsuit. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, which conducted the criminal investigation, declined to comment on the charges. Coincidentally, the judge presiding over the lawsuit against Truong is Amber Rosen, who is married to District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

Truong is no stranger to scrutiny for his business practices away from the patrol beat. In 2016, the police department suspended his outside work permit to investigate whether his management and ownership of a private security firm presented a conflict of interest that put him in competition with his employer. He contended at the time that he had done nothing improper.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs assert that the documents he cited to commit the mortgage fraud referenced that private security firm, Training and Protective Services, which was listed as part of his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in 2015.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.